University professors are expressing their concerns for two state constitutional amendments passed in the Nov. 4 midterm elections, fearing they could affect higher education funding.
Of the six constitutional amendments passed on Election Day, Amendment One and Amendment Two take steps to further protect health care funding, leaving less room for flexibility in the state budget.
University public administration professor Roy Heidelberg said higher education is one of the last major budget areas left unprotected in the state.
“Structurally, it definitely does cut off higher education,” Heidelberg said.
Political science professor Robert Hogan said interest groups wield power in the legislature by getting constitutional amendments put on ballots.
“This is the avenue for special interests to have an influence,” Hogan said. “They do it by putting these amendments on there that sound like you’re being helpful, you’re doing a good thing by voting for them.”
Though Gov. Bobby Jindal announced a $141.5 million proposed increase in state higher education funding in January, LSU has endured more than $40 million in midyear budget cuts since 2008.
Hogan said the constitutional changes do not bode well for the future of higher education funding in the state.
“What that means is they have to cut other things, and higher education is one of the areas that is not nearly as protected as other funds are,” Hogan said. “When tax revenues are down, it increases the likelihood that higher education will be cut in those periods.”
According to the Public Affairs Research Council’s Guide to the 2014 Constitutional Amendments, Amendment One will “give constitutional protection to provisions in the Louisiana Medical Assistance Trust Fund and set a baseline compensation rate for nursing homes and certain other healthcare providers that pay a provider fee.”
A vote against the amendment would have left the trust fund without greater constitutional protections. A floor for government money paid to health care services that pay a provider fee would also not be established.
Amendment Two will “allow an assessment on hospitals to draw down more federal Medicaid dollars for the institutions and create a Hospital Stabilization Fund,” according to the PARC guide.
The Hospital Stabilization Fund also will receive special constitutional protections, meaning the governor and legislature cannot use the fund’s money to pay for non-health care programs.
In a blog post, political communication professor Robert Mann called the amendments “ill-conceived” and referred to Amendment One as “a sweetheart deal carved out by legislators for the very powerful and politically connected nursing homes.”
“In other words, a very inflexible state budget, already overloaded with constitutionally protected funds, would become even less flexible,” Mann wrote.